Mayer/ Quinn/ Craig, The Teak Project

When Calcutta-raised violinist John Mayer (a player schooled in western and Indian classical music) formed his Indo-Jazz Fusions group with Caribbean sax star Joe Harriott in the 1960s, world music collaborations involving cross-cultural improvisers were almost unknown. The Teak Project involves Mayer's sitarist son Jonathan, who grew up in the musical world his father predicted, when players from different traditions wouldn't respectfully play in parallel with each other, but genuinely converse. Jonathan Mayer, F-ire Collective guitarist Justin Quinn and tabla player Neil Craig collaborate on seven originals by the band members here; and though fans of John McLaughlin's east-west Shakti group - or even of Ralph Towner or Egberto Gismonti - will sense familiar ground, the music is fresh, avoiding Shakti's high-speed badinage or familiar licks from either culture. Craig's Deliver Me has Balkan and Iberian as much as Indian undertones, and the brooding then bouncy Leaky echoes both jazzier McLaughlin and road-band Metheny. Some passages are mainly textural (exploring slow-bending low notes, metallic chords and gurgling percussion), Mayer blending a ballad-guitar sound with the sitar's quivering tones on the rhapsodic Emily, and Quinn putting his flamenco and McLaughlin enthusiasms to creative use. The lineup narrows the possible tone-colours, but they make very inventive use of what they have.